Our Great Big God

“which He will display at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1Tim 6:15).

Ever been in an intimidating situation? You know, the kind that makes your knees knock, palms sweat, and bladder nervous. It just seems too big, too nasty, too hard to pull off. Folks try to help you with little gimmicks. If it’s public speaking before a large group or an intimidating boss, imagine them in their underwear. But then do you have to choose between boxers or briefs? These are kind of things I worry about.

Let’s take a page our Timothy’s playbook. The young pastor is up to eyeballs with trouble at a church in Ephesus. He’s putting out a blazing dumpster fire ignited by a destructive team of false teachers. They’ve totally distracted the followers of Jesus with a crazy combo of urban legends, boundless bloodlines, the old bait-and-switch, and downright demonic doctrine (1Tim 1:4; 4:1-2). This was going to be tough enough when the legendary Apostle Paul was in charge, but he’s off to his next divine assignment up the road in Macedonia (1Tim 1:3). 

But in a little letter we’ve come to call 1st Timothy, the mentor encourages his protege that the King of the Universe has his back. He reminds Tim that our Heavenly Dad is in complete control of the Son of God’s guaranteed return, “which He will display at the proper time—He who is blessed and only Sovereign, the Kings of kings and Lord of lords” (v15). Yeah, you might have 99 problems but Almighty God ain’t one. Anything compared to our Great Big God gets really, really small.

First of all, I need to always remember who’s in charge of the calendar. As the Creator of time, God is in total control of it. That includes the timing of Jesus’ spectacular encore,“which He will display at the proper time” (v15). Only God the Father knows exactly when that’s going to go down (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). In case you forgot, Christ arrived precisely at the right moment the first time (Gal 4:4-5). Our Savior also was on schedule at Calvary when He “gave Himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1Tim 2:6). You see, when you’re in complete control, you’re always right on time. Whether it’s false teachers in Ephesus or an 800-pound gorilla in my own life, our Great Big God’s great big hands have a firm grip on the clock.

Next we see that immense Maker is immensely happy. Paul uses the Greek word makarios, which the folks at the ESV translate as “blessed” (v15). It literally describes someone who is transcendently happy and full of joy. It’s the very same term Jesus uses in His most famous sermon during what has become known as the Beatitudes. You might remember that from Sunday School. The radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee tells the big crowd about nine kinds of people who are “blessed (Gr. makarios)” (Mt 5:3-11). God will bless everyone from those who realize they’re spiritually bankrupt to those on the receiving end of persecution for doing the right thing. He’ll make sure they have a supernatural joy no one can ever take from them.

Do you think of God as transcendently happy? Or do you picture a grumpy God standing on the edge of heaven locked and loaded with lightning bolts ready to zap you when you get out of line? Now we can’t be sure that our Heavenly Father has Pharrell’s “Happy” on endless repeat on the cosmic iPod. But Paul wants us to know we worship a joyful God. This is exactly what Nehemiah wanted God’s people to know when they got down in the dumps over their own sin. “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh 8:10). He’s certainly not angry at those who place their trust in His son. As a matter of fact, our Great Big God has a great big smile on His face when He thinks about His kids.

The Almighty isn’t just transcendently happy, He’s the “only Sovereign” (v15). The original language here (Gr. dunastes) literally means the one with the most power or the powerful one. It’s from same Greek word that we get words like dynamo and dynamite. Listen, when you can create absolutely everything from less than nothing with just the sound of your voice, you’ve got serious power. There may be no way I can do something on my own, but having God and His limitless power on my side is total game changer. Or as Jesus told His crew, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26). What appear to be enormous problems become microscopic when I compare them to our Great Big God and His great big power.

Paul tells Timothy that God the Father is “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (v15). Now that sounds VERY familiar, doesn’t it? The Apostle John uses those very same words to describe the resurrected Jesus (Rev 17:14). As a matter of fact, that’s Christ has on the back of His jersey and tattooed on His thigh when He roars back to earth at His Second Coming (Rev 19:16). But the man from Tarsus is clearly talking about the First Person of the Trinity here. He wants us to be sure that every Person of the Godhead sits at the top of org chart. Father. Son. Spirit. Every single person on the planet answers to Him. Kings. Lords. Presidents. Prime ministers. Regional managers. Dog catchers. You. Me. Our Great Big God is the king-sized “King of kings and Lord of lords” (v15)!

We’re all going to face some incredibly tough situations in life. We’ll be intimidated. We’ll be tempted to turn and run. But remember the One who didn’t back down when He stared down death itself and punched it in the throat. Remember you worship the One who is in total control of the calendar. One who is transcendently happy. One who possesses limitless power. One who sits at the top of the universe’s org chart. I might have 99 problems but Almighty God ain’t one. Anything compared to our Great Big God gets really, really small.